Payaso y Prayer

Hola Hola Hola!

Hope you are all having a great week, I know I have. The work of the Lord never stops, and neither does the MTC. We started our first real lessons this week, and my companion and I have had the opportunity to teach three lessons so far to Veronica, a sweet Ecuadorian woman, with zero English background. It is very difficult with our broken, limited Spanish but it's amazing to feel the Spirit that is present at these lecciones. We have learned so much and although it’s been hard, we invited her to be baptized yesterday and she accepted! We were pumped and so excited for her, we fist bumped each other at least 100 times throughout the rest of that day. The Spanish and Scripture/Doctrinal classes have been amazing and we use what little "free time" we have to study more. I have come to realize that I'm not out here to gain anything for myself and that this is a work far greater than me. It's been humbling to see the thousands of missionaries all around me, and to hear the stories and testimonies of teachers, missionaries, and even apostles of Jesus Christ. We got to hear from Elder D. Todd Christofferson and it was amazing! 

My scripture for the week is 3 Nephi 27:16,

16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my 

Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world. 

We love this scripture in my District because it reminds us of our calling as missionaries, it reminds us of what we need to do in our lives, and how we can help others return to our Father in heaven.

In other news, I have found out that Utah Spikeball is not even close in comparison to Cali Spikeball and I've also discovered that missionaries are easily entertained. I mean seriously, the stuff we do for fun is repeating funny Spanish words, like payaso

, eating competitions, and "breaking necks" where we shout the name of an elder or sister in the cafeteria and watch them turn around confused. We have a good time. Also, my companion, Elder Warner, wants you all to know that meat is an abomination and that the only acceptable food for missionaries is salad. I disagree.

To explain the other half of my title, I've spent a lot of time on my knees this week, my testimony of prayer has really strengthened and I'm super grateful for the opportunity I have to talk to my Heavenly Father. I'm super happy to be here and I appreciate all of your love and support from back home. 

les amo,

-- 

Elder Moulton

Los Dos

Hola!

I hope you all are well! I appreciate all the love, support, and prayers that you guys have given me, they do not go unnoticed. 

Week one is officially down and I can say without a doubt it has been the longest, shortest, craziest, best week of my life. The missionary life is good. We have a phrase here, “A week is a day, and a day is a week.” Basically the time is wack, but it’s all filled with the best stuff so I'm not complaining. Classes have been great and I really feel like I have been able to grow closer to my Savior. I truly believe that Spanish is a celestial language; there are so many more ways to see the message of Christ and the world in general through the lens of the Spanish language. I am so happy to be here and feel like I learn so much everyday. We have been preparing to give our first real lesson this Wednesday and my companion and I came across a great scripture in Mosiah. In Chapter 4 verses 6-7 it reads,

6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—

7 I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world

As we are so fond of saying here, I am super mega agradecido for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the ability I have to become a better person through him. In addition to the amazing spiritual trip this has been, its been a lot of fun too. The quality of food goes up and down, most of our mealtime goes into ranking the food in our mixed array of Spanglish. But our district is very chevere and we are all super tight. 

Plus we get to play Basketball, volleyball, or spikeball everyday and we ball so much I ripped a hole in my shoe already. As you can see from the title, our favorite phrase is, “Los dos,” which basically means both and we use it any time we can. Our Spanish isn't great but we have a good time learning. Pretty soon it will be super bueno and that’s no chiste.

Keep in touch amigos, I'll be here every Saturday.

-- 

Elder Moulton

PS I realize there was an incorrect use of the Spanish Language in the title of my last email, lo siento. I will study harder next time :)

Un Trabajar Grande

Hola Famila y Amigos! 

For those of you who don’t know, I entered the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday of this week. And my short time here has been amazing! I have learned so much and met some great people. Its actually pretty weird writing this much in English because for the past couple of days my only communication has been in Spanish. We work hard here and study the language for about 3 hours a day outside of regular class times ( about 5 hours a day ). Its not easy but we love it and God is definitely helping us out in that arena. "El don de Lenguas" is what we call it, the Gift of Tongues, and even with as poor as my Spanish is right now, I can testify that it is real. Besides language classes we have been holding workshops and meetings daily to study the scriptures and to learn how to invite others to come unto Christ. My testimony of this gospel has strengthened so much and I am SO grateful for my Heavenly Father and my Salvador Jesus Christ. 

On another note, we are split up here into Districts. We have 12 people in District 28c ( 10 Elders y 2 Hermanas ) and I love these missionaries. They are all from all over the country, pero many are from Utah, and are all going around the world to spread Christ's message in Espanol. I was made District Leader on Thursday and have really enjoyed getting to know these awesome missionaries. They are all such incredible examples to me and have amazing stories and relationships with our Heavenly Father. Seriously I think our district might be the GOAT. My companion, Elder Warner is such a stud too. He's sitting right next to me so I gotta be careful what I say but.... He is really such a humble and hard working dude and I am so, so grateful for his example and motivation. I'm also grateful because he's the only thing keeping me from getting fat in here. He is a super healthy dude and inspires me to limit my chocolate milk intake to only 1 gallon a day. Great guy. It was funny on our first day when we found out that the salad bar was converted to an ice cream bar and we had VERY different reactions.

I miss you guys a lot but honestly la CCM, the MTC, has helped me so much to focus on this work. And I love it. I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now, its God's Plan, and I'm so grateful to be here. Keep the emails coming though, they've been great and I can check and read them every day but only respond on Saturdays.

I'll leave you with our District's escriptura favorita,

Y por el poder del Espiritu Santo, podreis conocer la vedad de todas las cosas

-Moroni 10:5

te amo,

-- 

Elder Moulton